A few things you didn't know about WordPress

WordPress powers 24% of the Web. That is over sixty million websites!! Some of the world’s leading brands have WordPress-based sites: Google, Facebook, Sony, Disney, CNN, Time Magazine, to name a few.

A tool that started out as a blogging platform has evolved into a complete content management system (CMS). Today it can be used to create everything from a simple blog to a fully functional website, e-commerce site or mobile site. Whatever type of site you want, rest assured that it can be created with WordPress.

WordPress is Open for business

WordPress is open source software. This means that there is no single owner or developer. Literally, tens of thousands of people have contributed to the development of the platform. The platform itself is free, the only costs that could come into play is if you want help tailoring it to your specific needs and crafting the design to match your unique brand. Wordpress also use what's called "plugins" and "themes". Plugins are used for extra functionality and themes are used as the base of your website's design.

In most cases your website developer will have the necessary plugins and themes to get your site up and running and will include this in the cost of the setup, however, should you require extra functionality your developer may charge you for the purchase of plugins. When it comes to working online, there are so many tools available on the Internet, but there seems to be something special about this one. What are the reasons that have so many migrating to this system? Why does its user base continue to grow?

Good Reasons to use WordPress

Let's narrow it down to five major advantages of using a WordPress website:

1. It is easy to use

WordPress is intuitive and accessible. You don’t need to have any design, technical or coding knowledge. You can add to it easily: new pages, images, blog posts. The technology is simple to use. You do not need to have a developer to make changes and it will not take a whole heap of time. Formatting is not complicated and to publish fresh content only takes one step.

‍2. Your website can be accessed from anywhere

Firstly you can access it yourself. You don’t need to go through another person. And, secondly, you can access it from anywhere. Because it is browser-based, as long as you have a computer and an Internet connection, you can access your site. Find yourself on a tropical beach sipping cocktails and there is a change you need to make? You can make it. No fixed office and freelance and fancy-free? You can access your site from anywhere. WordPress offers much freedom to the modern user.

‍3. As your business grows, you can grow your site

With a WordPress site, you can grow your site as you grow. You do not have to start with the end in mind, and you can add pages and features as you expand. Your site may start as a simple blog and can grow into a fully functional website with literally thousands of pages. Most importantly, growing your website will not compromise its performance. No matter how big it gets, it will continue to perform well.

‍4. Search Engines and WordPress are a match made in heaven

Search Engines love WordPress. It has been crafted with clean and simple code. This makes it easy for Search Engines to read the content of the site and to index it accurately. Each page and each post can be optimised for specific keywords. Matt Cutts, SEO guru at Google, said that WordPress is the best platform for optimized blogging. He uses it himself as it handles search engine optimization like a pro. Wordpress solves 80-90% of SEO problems. And that’s saying a lot because as we know SEO can be very complicated.

‍5.It's Secure

Sure, many of you reading this article will scoffing round about now as many actually consider the security of WordPress to be subpar due to the increase in attacks on WordPress websites, but in reality, with proper website maintenance, WordPress is very secure. It's simply a matter of keeping your plugins and themes up-to-date and installing logical security protocols. Most website developers will offer website maintenance as part of their services when setting up a WordPress website. Website maintenance not only keeps your site secure but also keeps your site up-to-date with the latest changes in browser technology, making sure that your website remains functional. Want to know more about Wordpress maintenance? Get in touch

Compressing the advantages of WordPress into five does not do it justice. You can’t explain how its ease of use will inspire you to create new content. There is no space to talk about its winning formula for increasing your visibility: inspired fresh content plus search engine optimisation equals success. With WordPress, you can integrate your website to your social media. This means seamless automation. When you publish on WordPress it will alert your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn account that you have fresh content. The positives go on and on. From humble beginnings, it is easy to see why WordPress has become the content management software of choice for most website development companies.